Turns out that Abdulmutallab’s mentor, jihadi cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, posted a heavy-handed warning on his website in October about a “surprise” from Yemen that would make it “the single most important front of jihad in the world,” and that calls made to Abdulmutallab from Aulaqi’s own phone were intercepted by the NSA before Christmas. Combine that with the other leads that various arms of U.S. intelligence had and there was enough info floating around in the system to know in advance that (a) Al Qaeda in Yemen was planning an attack, quite possibly on Christmas, involving a Nigerian, and coincidentally (b) a Nigerian named Abdulmutallab who had gone missing after hooking up with jihadis in Yemen and had spent some time yakking on the phone with Yemeni AQ chieftain Aulaqi was booked to fly on Christmas Day. Nuance. Quoth former FBI agent Ali Soufan, “The system should have been lighting up like a Christmas tree.” |
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